Buffett Holdings Tie Gates To Darfur Crisis

Berkshire owns $3.3B stake in firm said to fund militia
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted May 4, 2007 1:57 PM CDT
Buffett Holdings Tie Gates To Darfur Crisis
Investor Warren Buffett plays bridge with shareholders May 7, 2006, during the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb. Buffett usually attracts most of the spotlight when the holding company he built is in the news, leaving many pieces of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. hidden in the shadows....   (Associated Press)

A Berkshire Hathaway investment in a Sudanese oil company is posing thorny problems for the Gates Foundation, the Los Angeles Times reports. Warren Buffet's investment outfit is the largest independent shareholder in PetroChina, whose parent company the U.N. and U.S. say funds Sudan's janjaweed militia—a stark contrast to the foundation's mission.

Buffett's $31 billion gift last year has drawn him into the controversy over how the Gates Foundation—which itself has smaller stakes in several Sudan-based oil firms—invests the money it later donates. The situation has increased attention on "St. Warren," long seen as a moral leader in the investment industry; he is also a trustee of the Gates Foundation. (More Warren Buffett stories.)

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